The Dog and the Cat of Our Relationship
by warmestbloggerever
Summary: Elsa's dog is quite hyperactive. He forces her to get out of bed on a Saturday morning so they could go to the park, and on the way, they meet Jack and his brooding cat. [One-shot.]


**Author's Notes: ****Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me!**

**Guys, I really hope you like this... I had this idea a long time ago, but just wrote it now. Also, there are non-spoilery references to two character in the Heroes of Olympus series.**

**The title is a reference to that idea that, in some shippings, one acts like a cat and the other is more like a puppy...**

**Have a marvellous week, you all!**

* * *

Elsa's plans for this Saturday were so wonderful that she teared up with happiness when she remembered them. Midterms week was over, all her essays and works were done and in the teachers' hands, and now all she had to do was to wait for her grade. At this point, when she found herself free, it was hard to care if she got either an A or a C, though, so she barely paid any mind to that anymore. Her intentions for the weekend were:

a) Wake up as late as she could in a manifestation of her freedom;

b) Catch up on to 'How To Get Away With Murder';

c) Clean the house, because she had neglected it during the previous, stressful weeks.

And then her dog ruined it.

Will Solace was a white Labrador who always seemed happy to be alive. Today, he woke her up by licking her hand, which was fallen on the edge of the mattress, nearly touching the floor. When she moved in the bed, trying to keep asleep, he barked loudly, and she cringed.

"It's too early, Will." She barely murmured, her voice too husky from sleep.

The dog started trotting in circles around her room, then, and barked even more, as if saying, "_Elsa! I'm so happy and LOUD! Come on, get out of the bed and be alive with me!_".

Eventually, the noise took away all of Elsa's peace, and she groaned. She opened one eye and glared at Will, in a silent attempt to make him quiet, but it was no use. It seemed that Will also had plans with Elsa for the weekend. It _was_ true that, during exams weeks, she grew a little distant from her dog in order to focus on her studies.

With a sigh, she rolled off her bed until she fell on the cold floor, taking care not to hurt herself in the process, and was welcomed with a loud, happy bark.

* * *

She decided that he could spend all his energy in the park. After preparing for the day, eating her cereal and wearing her sneakers, she got his old boomerang, her phone and a book she had yet to finish, put them all in a bag and left with him to the park near her house.

It was two blocks down her street, a five minutes walk. While she was walking down the sidewalk and tying her hair up in a ponytail, Will bounced around her, full of joy, his tongue poking out in a happy expression. Now that she was awake, the will to move and be active consumed her. Maybe she would go for a run.

Elsa noticed that her neighbor, Jackson, the one who lived in the house across the street, was also jogging in the park's direction, wearing sports clothes. He had earphones on and a small grin. For a moment, she wondered why he was smiling; maybe it was the music, or the fact that it was a beautiful day, sunny and all. Elsa had to admit she was thankful that her dog had convinced her to go outside.

Just as she was about to start jogging, she saw a flash of something black moving very quickly in Jack's direction. She had no idea where the thing had come from, but it stopped once it was in front of him, and she saw that it was a cat.

"Hey, buddy!" She heard Jack saying while he lowered himself in front of the cat, who held something in his mouth, and had the most _bored_ expression Elsa had ever seen in her life, as if the existence of the world alone was enough to irritate him.

Jack extended his hand and got whatever it was that the cat had brought him. "Thank you! I can't believe I forgot it again! What would I do without you?" Jack laughed, but the cat simply meowed—in agreement, probably.

Elsa was paying so much attention to the scene, because of the alarm she'd felt when the cat appeared out of nowhere, that she didn't notice that she had stopped. Will's loud bark brought her back to her senses, which made her realize she had been staring more than it was polite, and which made Jack turn his head at the girl.

He smiled. "I forgot my wallet. Again." Jack told her from across the street and chuckled, raising the brown wallet in the air for her to see. She smiled back.

"Your cat brings your wallet for you? How did he learn that?" She asked him, her tone quite playful despite her true curiosity. She didn't know much about cats; she had just assumed that they didn't respect or cared much about humans the way dogs did and, therefore, were harder to train. Heck, she didn't even know if cats _could_ be trained.

Jack shrugged and started walking towards her, so they wouldn't need to speak so loudly. The cat followed him. "You wouldn't believe how many times I've forgotten important things when I leave home. My memory is trash." He told her, shaking his head. He finally reached her, and his eyes darted towards the dog between them. His face lit up with childlike excitement, as it usually happened to people when they saw Will. He knelt and patted the dog on the head, and Will's tail wagged. "What's his name?"

"Will. As in Will Solace, the character." She told him, more out of habit than anything. When she said only "Will", most people assumed it was in tribute to a relative or something, and it got awkward when she explained that it was actually in tribute to a dorky book character.

Jack looked up at her, eyebrows raised in surprise and head mildly tilted to the side, like a puppy. "Will Solace? Percy Jackson's Will Solace? Really?" He grinned, and his eyes narrowed a little because of the sunlight hitting them, now that he was looking up.

"Yeah." She crossed her arms. "Because Will, huh, Dog!Will is full of life and reminds me of sunshine, and I had just finished Blood of Olympus at the time I got him, so I baptized him Will Solace." She smiled at the dog, then looked back at Jack.

The boy stood up; he was a least a head taller than Elsa. He pointed at his cat, who was beside him, and said, "My cat is named Nico di Angelo."

She gasped, threw her head back and laughed—being accompanied by Jack, who found her laugh to be contagious, kind of funny even. She didn't know the exact reason why she found that all so humorous, but it probably was because the cat's bored face and "don't touch me, I'm a king" attitude _were_ a little bit like Nico's distaste for human contact.

"That's—That's pretty awesome." She said while her laugh died down. "And accurate."

They stayed in a comfortable silence for a brief moment, until Jack broke it. "You're going to the park with him?" He nodded at the dog.

"Yep. He woke up full of energy today, so I kind of have no choice." They grinned, sharing knowing looks.

Will barked then. When the adults looked down, they saw the dog bouncing around the cat, who seemed annoyed by the agitation around him. Elsa and Jack couldn't help but laugh. It was too ironic for them not to.

"Wanna join us to the park? You seemed to be going there and all." Elsa invited, looking up at Jack once more.

He smiled in response and said, "Sure."

Together, they jogged to the park, making small talk and talking about nothing really important while their pets followed them.

* * *

A decade later, they were married. Jack had proposed in her favorite place in the city—the library—, and the rings were put in Will's collar. Elsa cried of shock and amazement, and said "yes" multiple times, like a chant, for Jack's delight. Nico was also there. He followed Will everywhere, even if he kept the bored expression on.

Their routine didn't tire them. They moved to Jack's house, which was bigger, and every day they left together for work. Some weekends they would run together, but in others they'd just watch TV, if they felt too lazy to move.

Will and Nico were much older now, not as energetic as they used to be. For Jack and Elsa's amusement, Nico was now the one who called Will to play, not the contrary, and they did, even if it was just for a short while.

Jack still forgot his things when he was leaving. Today was the flash drive with the presentation he had to do, but it usually was the car keys, the lunch they'd prepared in the previous day,his wallet or his phone. In ten years, Elsa couldn't understand how that could be, if she was being honest with herself. How could anyone forget their _phone_?

"Jack, did you get everything?" She asked her husband, standing on the doorway, while scanning their living room, searching for the small objects he usually left behind.

"Yep. I made a mental check-list!" He grinned behind her, clearly proud, already outside the house.

Elsa's eyes spotted something over the tea table, and she sighed. Mental check-list, yeah? U-huh, right.

"So your flash drive with today's presentation stays at home?" Elsa asked casually. She laughed when Jack cursed under his breath and ran into the house to get the object. Once it was safe inside his pocket, he kissed his wife's cheek and wondered, "_What would I do without you?_"


End file.
